The emperor of Gladness : a novel
Vuong, Ocean, 1988-2025
Book
One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai's relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink. Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labour, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul.
Main title:
The emperor of Gladness : a novel / Ocean Vuong.
Author:
Vuong, Ocean, 1988-, author
Imprint:
London : Jonathan Cape, 2025.©2025
Collation:
402 pages ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:
9781787335417978178733541797817873354179781787335417 (paperback)9781787335400 (hardback)
Dewey class:
813.6
Language:
English
Related title:
Subject:
BRN:
828636